Y is for Yellow! January

Transcription

1 Y is for Yellow! January... 8, 2016 Welcome to our first lesson! During the next two weeks you have three tasks: 1. Start filling your larger Alphabet Notebook (see the blog and video for more). 2. Do your Drawing Assignment. 3. Set aside, temporarily, any ideas of what your series will be. In the beginning we are building a foundation of techniques and approaches to art and mixed-media, so try to keep the serious stuff in the back of your mind for today and the next three lessons! Let s get started! ^

2 A is for... authentic abstraction art able add afterwards amok armadillo anger apology aqua ask a lot attachment annual alphabet animals artificial annual angels attach adjust alligator ambivalence Art Nouveau available attention Art Deco abstract activity African autobiography air astronaut advice adolescence acrylics angels ants Aries absolute airborne angelfish apples all-over compositions accessible also Print out and add your own A words in the spaces in-between those listed here!

3 Antlers... Accidents... There are no mistakes, only happy accidents. Bob Ross The good painter is always making use of accidents. Charles Hawthorne Happy accidents are real gifts, and they can open the door to a future that doesn t even exist. It s kind of nice sometimes to set up something to encourage or allow happy accidents to happen. David Lynch There are no accidents. Pablo Picasso

4 Artists... Elenore Abbott Josef Albers Mary Abbott Pacita Abadi Milton Avery Aesop Ruth Abrams Jean Arp Milton Avery Woody Allen I always take something out of my pictures, strip the design to essentials; the facts do not interest me so much as the essence of nature. I never have any rules to follow, I follow myself. Jane Austin Ansel Adams Add your own names to those listed here!

5 Drawing Assignment A is for Animals: You will draw Five Animals Four Times Each at least Four Times. (5 x 4) x 4 = 80

6 Assignment Supplies Needed sketchbook or drawing paper pencil ballpoint pen (or other pen) charcoal, pastel, marker or colored pencil references of animals (from a book or Google)... Find five reference photos of five different animals. The animals should be in profile. Then draw the five animals in these four ways: 1 Backbone Swoosh Drawings Looking at your reference, and starting either at the tailbone or neck, set your pen to page and then, in one fluid and quick motion, draw the curve of the back of your animal. Put your pen back to the beginning point, look at your reference and do it again. Repeat for a total of 7-10 lines. Do one swoosh drawing for each of the five animals. 1. Backbone Swoosh Drawings 2. Wrong-Handed Drawings 3. Eyes-Closed, Memorized Drawings 4. Smudgies

7 2 Wrong-Handed Drawings Place your pen in your non-dominant hand. Look at your reference, pick a point and begin drawing. Don t worry about your shaky lines... just look at your reference about 60% of the time and your drawing about 40% of the time. Breathe! Since this is a wrong-handed drawing, it s not meant to be good, so just relax and do your best. 3 Eyes-Closed, Memorized Drawings This one is fun! Before you begin drawing, spend about 20 seconds really looking at your photo reference. You might want to say things out loud, such as the feet make an upside-down V shape or the belly slopes downward. Then, close your eyes and do your best! If desired, add value to these drawings with marker or colored pencil.

8 4 Smudgies Have fun! Look at your reference photo and, using either charcoal, pastel, or anything that smudges, make two shapes: one for the body, and one for the head. You can try to make your shapes look like the animal, but don t spend too much time on it as you can make corrections with your lines. Now, using a pencil, add lines to define the backbone shape, the head shape, and add ears, legs, horns, and any other distinguishing features. Keep it simple... once you have the essence of the animal, stop. Think stick figures! Do the whole assignment four times (on four different days). Choose five different animals each day.

9 Optional Optional / Extra Credit AFTER you ve done the drawing assignment four times, you can move on to the following: 1. Do the assignment every day (or almost every day) for the whole two weeks, choosing different animals for each set. 2. Apply the same exercises (swoosh backbone, wronghanded, eyes-closed and smudgies) to things OTHER than animals (though items drawn must start with the letter A apples, angels, astronauts, etc.). 3. Draw or paint an animal in the media of your choice that is inspired by one of your exercise drawings. 4. Color some of your animals, adding pattern, texture and color using markers and colored pencils. P.S. Please do NOT feel behind if you don t get to these! These prompts are optional.